China downplays 'cyber attack' on French Embassy Website

The Chinese government, which threatened the French with 'consequences' for President Nicolas Sarkozy's weekend meeting with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, has said it is not behind a cyber attack on the French Embassy's Website.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told journalists that there was no clear link between the shutdown and a diplomatic row with France over Tibet . "China is against the hacking of the Websites of the Embassys of other nations," she said. She claimed that France had not claimed it, either.

However, a French diplomat told AFP the Embassy Website had been inaccessible for several days due to a massive cyber attack following President Nicolas Sarkozy's weekend meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. He said that the server was attacked for several days, saturated by massive requests for a connection, mostly coming at night.

Liu said that the media should not base their reports on rumors and should not target China.